Cutting machine



May 3, 1932. F. c. EASTMAN CUTT ING MACHINE Filed Jan. 30, 1928 15/27 25] zal (Y DH O T N E. V N

Patented May 3, 1932 NITED STATES FRED C. EASTMAN, OIE' BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSISI-NOR T0 UNITED SHOE Mil.- i,

Ulf-IEINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NE` JERSEY CUTTING MACHINE Application. filed January 30, 1928. Serial No. 250,492.

rl`his invention relates to cutting machines and is herein illustrated as embodied in a man chine particularly adapted to split upper leather.

Splitting machines for upper leather commonly comprise two members which cooperate to feed the work to a knife, the edge of which is parallel to the line or elongated locality along which the feed members eni gage the work. It is desirable-particularly when soft and flimsy upper leather is being operated upon-that the edge of the knife should lie as close as possible to the line along which the feed members engage the work and that the feed members should be so constructed and arranged that the fuzz and lint, which result from the action of the knife, should not interfere with their operation.

According to one feature of the invention, one of the feed members is a conveyor which extends forwardly to a point adjacent to the edge of the knife and then backwardly away from the knife without overlapping the blade thereof. In the illustrated machine the upper feed member` is a roll, and the lower feed member is a belt conveyor which travels over a stationary plate and then down over one edge thereof, said edge being located just beneath the feed roll. lVith such a construction the edge of the knife may be positioned close to the locality in the work which is being gripped by the feed members without danger of the knife damaging the conveyor belt; and any fuzz or lint which may be produced does not affect in any way the eilicacy of the conveyor belt.

lnasmuch as leather is commonly not of uniform thickness it is desirable to provide one of the feed members with means for ac con'nnodating itself to such unevenness. To this end, according to another feature of the invention, means are provided for permitting different localities of the conveyor to yield independently of one another. In the illustrated construction the conveyor supl' runs.

porting plate referred to above is made of spring steel and is slotted longitudinally to provide a series of independently yieldable tongues over the ends of which the conveyor These tongues have their ends bent back to provide a rounded surface over which the conveyor may run easily; and their rounded ends terminate at a locality just slightly in advance of the edge of the knife so that the conveyor may run in contact with the roll when no work is in the machine without any danger of the knife cutting into the conveyor. With this construction an uneven piece of thin upper leather may be firmly gripped by the feed members in a locality clfse to the edge of the knife and accurately sp 1t.

These and other features of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description of the machine in which the invention is shown as embodied and which will be pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a general View of the machine in perspective Fig. 2 is side elevation of the machine, partly in section;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a side of the machine in perspective; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary rear View 1llustrating the passage of the work between the conveyor and the feed roll.

The frame of the machine comprises a base plate 1 upon which are rigidly secured right and left sidemembers 3 and 5, respectively. A feed roll 7, of the character ordinarily employed in leather splitting machines. is carried upon a shaft 9, which is mounted at either end in bearings disposed in the side members 3 and 5, respectively. Cooperating with the roll 7 is an endless conveyor belt 11, which may be of heavy textile fabric or of other suitable material. A support for the conveyor belt 11 in the form of a flat sheet or plate 13 of resilient material, preferably of spring steel, is rigidly secured at its forward end upon a bar 15 carried upon a shaft 17 which is parallel to the shaft 9, the shaft 17 being mounted at either end in bearings disposed in the side frame members 3 and 5, respectively, somewhat below the level of the shaft 9 and about a third of the distance from the front to the rear ends of the side frame members, so that the belt-.supporting plate 13 extends from the bar 15 rearwardly and substantially horizontally to a point beneath the feed roll 7. The belt supporting plate 13 has a plurality of parallel slits extending longitudinally to a locality near its forward end, leaving that portion adjacent to the bar 15 unbroken and providing a plurality of parallel adjacent rearwardly extending resilient tongues 19 which are part of and integral with the plate 13, but which may yield independently ofone another; Slightly beyond their point of engagement with the feed roll 7 the tongues 19 are bent under for a short distance to present a smooth` rounded end 20 Which Will not injure. the conveyor. belt 11.

,A belt driving roll 21, equa-ll in diameter to the feed roll 7 and having longitudinal corrugations to provide a better gripping surface; isearried uponi a sha-ft 23, Which is parellelto-the shaft 9, being mounted at either end in bearings disposed in the forward ends of the side members 3 and 5, resectively. The highest. portion of the belt driving roll 21 is disposed in or slightly above the generalplane of the belt supporting plate 13. The conveyor belt 11 passes' around its driving roll 21, over its supporting plate 13, around 'the end 20. of the supporting plate as the belt terminates its advance run and` begins its return run, and. underI an. idler. roll 25 which is disposed Linder the central portion of the supporting plate 13. and. in parallel relation to the rolls 7 and 21, and is-mountedv in any suitable manner for tak-ing up any slack in the belt 11.

Tzhe shaft. 23 extends at either end beyond its bearings in the respective sideframe members; and the end of the shaft 23 Which extends beyond the side frame member 5 ycarries apulley 27 driven by a belt29.. The opposite end of the shaft 23 carries a sprocket. YWheel 31 which drives a chai-n. 33. YExtending outivardly from. the side frameV member 3 and beneath the shaft .9. is a vstud' shaft or axle 35, u-pon which axle is rotatably mounted a sprocket Wheel 37 equal in diameter and in number of teeth tothe sprocket Whed 31,.and driven by the chain 33. Rotatably mounted upon the shaft 35V and secured tothe sprocket Wheel 37 is' aspur gear39 which meshes with and drives a spur gear 41 equal in diameter and. innfumber of teeth,.and securely fixed to the `adjacent extended end` ofthe shaft 9. 1n the above description. ofthe driving. mechanisni, it will be apparent that. the conveyor bel-t .driving roll 21 is driven` by the belt 29 througl-i the pulley 27 and the shaft 23; and that the feed roll 7 is. driven by the belt 29 ata speed equal to, and in an oppositedirection from, that of the conveyor belt driving roll 21,. such drive being through the pulley 27,A the shaft 3, the sprocket Wheel 31, the chain! 33,.the` sprocket lWheel 37,.tlie spur gear 39, the spur gear/41, and the shaft 9. It will further be apparent that', sincethe rolls 7 and 21 are of equal diameter and are driven at equal speeds, their peripheral velocities Will be equal, and therefore the velocity of the conveyor belt 11 will be equal to the peripheral velocity of the roll 7, and as the conveyor belt 11 and the surface of the feed roll 7 are travelling at the same velocities and also, at their point of contact, in the same direction, no slippage between these two feed elements can occur;

Provision is made for the' angularv adjustment of the supporting plate 13 by extending the shaft 17 outwardly through its bearing, in the side frame member 5. A rocker arm or crank 43 extends radially from the extended end of the shaft 17., and is forked at its, outer end soas to extend loosely on either sideof a threaded rod- 45 securely liXed in a bracket 47 mounted on the outsideof the side frame member 5. A knurled: adjusting nut 49, of suiiieient diameter toprevent it from passing through the forked end of the arm 43, is threaded on the rod 45; and by rotation of the nut 49 the arm 43:.may be rocked to. rotate the shaft 17 and they bar 15 and thus to adjust the .spring plate 13 so as to bring the ends 20 of the tongues 19-into contact, With Whatever degree of pressure may be desired, With the surface ofy the feed roll 7; or, if desired, to leaveV a slight space between the ends 2O vand the roll 7 to aecommodate the'thickness of the workto bepassed through the machine. For thin Work, the ends 20. may be brought to bear With relatively highv pressure against the roll 7 for Work of medium thickness, the ends 20 will be brought to. bear With only slight pressure, or' mere Contact may be sufficient While for thick Work, the ends 20 may not even be brought into contact with the roll 7, but may be spaced therefrom by a distance less than they thickness of the Work, Which will, in passing throughl the machine, build up the desired pressure.

A belt knife 51, carried between guides 53, has its operative run disposed substantially in the general plane of the supporting plate 13, the cutting edge of the knife 51 being substantially parallel to the roll 7, and in very close proximity to the endsy 2O of the spring tongues 19, but Without overlapping thel ends 2O or the feed belt 11. 1n` other Words, the belt 11 is spaced from the knife 51 in the direction of feed movement of the Work, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2. In orderto simplify the drawings and because it has nothing to do with 'the present invention, no means has been shown for adjusting the roll 7 vertically so as to vary the thickness of the finished product. 1t Will be understood, however, that any of the Well-known means may be provided if desired.

The operation of the machine Will be apparent from the foregoing description. In Fig. 4 the passage of al pieceof Work W between the conveyor belt l1 (supported by the ends 2O of the spring tongues 19) and the roll i' is illustrated. 'lhe work W is shown as of irregular thickness along its width; and as the belt 11 is flexible and the spring tongues 19 are independently yieldable, all portions of the work qW will be held in firm Contact with the roll 7. The spring tongues 19 are relatively narrow, and a sufficient number of them are provided to accon'n'nodate any kind of local irregularity in the thickness of the work lll. lt will be noted that the spring tongues 19 extend entirely across the belt 11 and along the length of the roll 7.

ln Fig. 2 the work 13V is shown as being split into two sheets, Vif and 1f the sheet lll" having been split to a uniform thickness as determined by the distance from the plane of the knife to the under side of the roll. IThe sheet lll has all the original irregularities of the material, and may be run through the machine again or discarded.

:lrlthough the invention has been set forth as embodied in an illustrative machine in which the snjjiporting plate is horizontaly and the knife is an endless one, it should be undeii'stoi'id that the invention is not limited in the scope of its application to the particular machine which has been shown aud described.

lWhat l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A machine of the class described having, in combination, u splitting knife and a pair of feed members for gripping the work and feeding lit to sai d knife, one of said inembers being adapted to travel in a closed path cat-ending to a. point .adjacent to the edge of said knife, and then extending away from said knife without ovcrla )ping the blade thereof.

A machine ofthe class described having, in combination, a. feed roll, a knife positioned with edge adjacent to the periphery of r said roll, and a moving` conveyor adapted to (fo-operate with said roll in feeding work to the knife, said conveyor being constructed and arranged to extend forwardly to a point adjacent to the edge of said knife and then backwardly away from the knife without overlapping the blade thereof.

3. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife, two members adapted to co-operate to feed t-he work to the knife, one of said members being an endless conveyor, and a plate having yielding tongues formed at one end thereof for supporting the conveyor adjacent to the other feed member, said tongues having ends around which said conveyor passes as the conveyor terminates its advance run and begins its return run.

A machine of the class described having, in combii'iation, a knife, a feed roll, a resilient plato having a work-supporting surface adapted to press the work against said roll,

feed roll, the plate having a rounded end around which the belt passes in an abrupt turn.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a knife, a feed roll, a conveyor belt, and a plate constructed and ar-u ranged to hold the conveyorl belt against the feed roll, the plate having an end adjacent said feed roll bent double and away from said feed roll, so as to present a smooth end about which the conveyor belt passes in an abruptI turn.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a splitting knife, a feed roll adjacent thereto, a conveyor belt adapted to co-operate with the roll in advancing work to the knife, and a member for supporting the belt adjacent to the roll and knife, the conveyor belt being located wholly on one side of a plane passed through the edge of the knife perpendicular to the plane of the knife.

8. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a splitting knife, a feed roll adjacent thereto, an endless conveyor hav ing a run which moves forward toward the knife and roll and a second run which moves backward diagonally away from the roll and knife, and a conveyor support extending into the angle between the two runs of the conveyor, the extreme forward portion of the conveyor terminating short of a plane passed through the edge of the knife perpendicular to the plane of the knife.

9. A machine of the class described having,

in combination, a splitting knife, a feed rollI adjacent thereto, an endless conveyor having a run which moves forward toward the knife and ro-ll and a second run which moves backward diagonally away from the roll and knife, and a conveyor support comprising a plate having yielding tongues at one end thereof around which the conveyor passes in an abrupt turn.

10. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a splitting' knife, a feed 120 roll, substantially horizontal resilient plate held from movement at one end and having its free end extending beneath the roll, a belt for cooperating with the roll in advancing work to the knife, and means for causing the belt to travel forwardly toward the roll in contact with the upper surface of the plate and then about the free end of the plate downwardly and backwardly.

11. In a. machine of the class described, a

uva

splitting akffe, and a :movable feed member "for feeding 4Work rtothe knife,.said movable feed :member-extending to apoint 'n prox- -imty .to the edge of .the knife zlout spaced therefrom n the pathof feed movement of .thewohnndthen extending 'away from said lpmth'iof Lfeed :movement Without overlapping the knife lin a zone 1in lwhich theknfe may engage 'the `movable feed member.

)In `testimony whereof I have sgnedsmy uametofhis specification.

FRED C. EASTMAN. 

